Typographical composing and casting machines



Oct. 23, 1956 R. H. TURNER TYPOGRAPHICAL COMPOSING AND CASTING MACHINES 2 Sheets-Sheet l 1 v Filed July 25. 1952 IHIHHIHHHHHIIHIHHHHIMI l llllllllli JNVEN TOR mm Kwi -P ATTO mvtrs.

Oct. 23, 1956 R. H. TURNER TYPOGRAPHICAL COMPOSING AND CASTING MACHINES Filed July 25. 1952 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Willi" J/WQVTOR: am 7 m Km gfi YW"; ATTORNEYs,

E EELEYEEEHEEc EEG United States Patent 2,767,827 TYPOGRAPHICAL COMPOSING AND CAsTiNG MACHINES Ransom H. Turner, Great Neck, N. Y., assignor to Mergentlhaler Linotype Company, a corporation of New Yor Application July 25, 1952, Serial No. 300,833 18 Claims. (Cl. 19930) This invention relates to typographical composing and casting machines of the general organization represented 1n wherein circulating matrices and spacebands are composed in line and then presented against the face of a mold, the line expanded or justified between a pair of vise jaws, the mold filled with molten metal to form a type bar or slug against the matrices which produce the type characters thereon, and finally, after the casting operation, the line elevated from the jaws and distributed.

In practice, it is frequently necessary to change the length of the slugs produced and in consequence one of the vise jaws (the left hand jaw) is made adjustable to correspond with the change in line length desired. A corresponding adjustment must be made in the assembler slide stop to prevent oversetting of the composed line. It is now the usual practice to provide common operating means for effecting these two adjustments simultaneously or in unison (see for example the Mohr Patent No. 1,264,541). i

The present invention is directed to certain improvements in such adjusting mechanism, the general object being to simplify the mechanism and to avoid unnecess'ary projectingv parts as well as to permit the use of quadding attachments without interference with the adjusting mechanism. These improvements will best be understood from the detailed description to follow.

Referring to the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a portion of a Linotype machine equipped with the present improvements;

Fig. la is an enlarged front elevation of the rack and pinion mechanism employed for operating the assembler slide stop contact member;

Fig. 2 is a top plan view with parts broken away of the operating connections between the left hand vise jaw and the assembler slide stop, along with the stop contact member and the associated indicator;

Fig. 3 is a detached face view of the indicator employed to show line shortages;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged face view of the indicator em- .ployed to show the setting of the left hand vise jaw and the assembler slide stop;

Fig. 5 is a diagram of en electric circuit controlled from the spaceband escapement mechanism and which operates a spaceband counter;

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the spaceband magazine with the escapement mechanism and the electrical switch controlled thereby;

Fig. 7.is an enlarged face view of a modified form of indicator to show line shortages in terms of ems, as well as the number of spacebands contained in the composed line;

. Fig. 8 is a vertical section taken through the counter which operates the spaceband indicator pointer; and Fig. 9 is a rear view of the parts shown in Fig. 8. The matrices X (shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1) and U. S. Letters Patent to O. Mergenthaler No. 436,532,

the spacebands Y (Fig. are released fromtheir respec- :1

sleeve 12. The sleeve 12 is tive magazines by the manipulation of a keyboard and are delivered by a star wheel 1 into an assembler elevator 2 wherein they are composed in line against a resistant finger 3 of an assembler slide 4. The assembler slide is mounted to move freely to the left and its movement is always under the restraint of a spring 5 which is just strong enough to return the slide quickly to the right, back to its starting position, after a composed line has been elevated for transfer. The composed line is then delivered in the usual way between vise jaws 6 and 7 for the slug casting operation.

The vise jaws 6 and 7 are rigidly connected to slidable blocks 8 and 9, respectively, but the left hand jaw block 8 is longitudinally displaceable in relation to a slidable guide carriage or follower 10, which enables the left hand jaw thus to be adjusted toward and from the right hand jaw 7 to accommodate different lengths of lines even when the machine is equipped with a quadding attachment. Thus, although not shown, the carriage or follower 10 is connected to one of the quadding levers and will therefore operate the left hand jaw in any of its adjusted positions. The right hand jaw 7, of course, may be connected directly to the other quadding lever, all in the usual way.

The foregoing adjustment of the left hand jaw 6 is etfected by means of a screw rod 11 having a plain bearing portion 11 at the left journalled in the follower 10 and having its threaded portion cooperatively engaged with a threaded opening formed in the jaw block 8. At the right, the screw rod 11 has a telescopic connection with a rotatable sleeve 12 passing through a plain longitudinal bore formed in the right hand jaw block 9. To provide for such telescopic connection, the screw rod 11 is formed with one or more flat portions which engage with similar flat portions in the interior of the provided at its extreme right with a rotating gear 13.

As thus far described, the parts and their mode of operation are substantially the same as disclosed in the Brandenburg Patent No. 2,247,986.

An assembler slide stop, in the form of an adjustable set' screw 14, is carried by a linearly adjustable block 15. This block 15 is threaded to a second screw rod 16 rotatably mounted at its opposite ends in a box or housing 17 having a front opening 18 to accommodate the block. A mark or pointer 19 on the block 15 co operates with a stationary scale 20 fixed to the housing and calibrated to read in ems. As one feature of the present invention, the screw rod 16 is only half as long as the screw rod 11 for the left hand jaw and is provided with a rotating gear 21 which is twice the diameter of the gear 13 with which it is in constant mesh. Due to this 2 to 1 ratio in favor of the screw rod 11, the latter partakes of two rotations for each rotation of the screw rod 16. Assuming the pitch of both screw rods to be one em (as herein'illustrated), this means that the one em adjustment of the left hand vise jaw 6 will involve a one-half em adjustment of the assembler slide stop 14 in the same direction. Nevertheless, as above indicated, the scale 20 is calibrated to read in terms of ems to indicate the actual linear adjustment of the left hand vise jaw 6. The lesser linear adjustment of the assembler slide stop 14 is made possible by other improvements to be described.

The two screw rods are rotated through the gears 13 and 21 by a rotatable hand wheel 22 connected by a train of gears 23, 24, and 25. These gears 23, 24- and 25, as well as the gears 13 and 21, are all enclosed within the box or housing 17, while the hand wheel 22 is mounted exteriorly thereof, as clearly shown in Fig. 2. The hand wheel 22 is used in making the major adjustments in ems as indicated on the scale 20, but for making finer adjustments in points, the screw rod 16 has fixed directly thereto at its right end a hand turning knob 26 and a rotary dial 27, the latter having 12 point graduations cooperating with a mark on the right end of the scale 20 (see Fig. 4).

Ordinarily the stop contact member is fixed directly to the assembler slide and hence moves therewith at the same rat and to the same extent but, in the present instance, the stop contact member is mounted independently of the slide and is movable therewith at one-half the rate of speed and to one-half the extent of the assembler slide to correspond with the lower rate and range of movement of the assembler slide stop 14. Said stop contact member is in the form of a long sleeve 28 having its right end secured to a supporting bracket 29 projecting upwardly and forwardly from a supplemental slide 30 mounted in a long groove 30 formed in the front face of the adjacent assembler slide 4. At the left, the sleeve is supported by an underlying grooved roller 31 journalled in the upper end of a fixed bracket 32. While both the sleeve 28 and the screw rod 16 overlap the assembler to some extent, the forward location of said parts will permit the usual assembler gate to be turned down whenever it is desired to gain access to the line in course of composition. It may also be noted that the housing 17 for the screw rod 16 and its operating mechanism is mounted on the vise frame A, which is therefore free to be swung from and to its operative position without any interference between the assembler slide stop 14 and the stop sleeve 28. V

The supplemental slide 30 has mounted thereon, at its extreme right end, a traveling rotatable pinion 33 which meshes with an overlying rack 34 fixed to the assembler slide 4 and with an underlying normally stationary rack 35 mounted in the fixed front plate B. Due to this rack and pinion connection between the main assembler slide 4 and the supplemental slide 30, the driving ratio will be 2 to 1 in favor of the main assembler slide, which means that during line composition, the rate and range of movement of the stop contact sleeve 28 will be onehalf of the rate and range of movement of the main assembler slide. Hence, notwithstanding the fact that when the assembler slide stop 14 is set according to the em scale 20, it partakes of a linear movement of only a one-half em for each em adjustment, the stop sleeve 28 will compensate for such lesser linear adjustment of the stop 14, since it itself will partake of only a one-half em movement for each complete em movement of the assembler slide 4. In this way, the assembler slide stop will control the length of the composed line in strict accordance with the setting of the left-hand vise jaw, even though the screw rod 16 is only half as long as the screw rod 11.

The bottom rack 35 is not actually fixed but is normally held in its stationary position by means of a pivoted latch 36 which is engaged with the right end of the rack. The left end of the rack is held engaged by a spring 37 with a fixed abutment 38, the spring tending constantly to urge the rack to th left up against the abutment. Consequently, when a tight line is composed the assembler slide 4 is locked against any further movement to the left but, by raising the latch 36, the rack 35 will be permitted to move to the right and thus allow corresponding movement of the assembler slide to the left (as indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 1), thus enabling the operator to make any necessary correction in the composed line.

While as above indicated, the contact of the sleeve 28 with the assembler slide stop 14 will determine the length of the composed line and prevent any additional matrices from entering the assembler, the operator ordinarily ceases composition just befor the line reaches its maximum length to leave room for the customary justification. It is at this time that the operator has to do some rapid mental calculation. He must note the unfilled space left in .the line inem measure and figure out if he has spacebands enough in the line to expand it to full length. Ordinarily, it requires at least three spacebands to expand a line one em. And so he has to calculate the ending of each line accordingly. As an aid to him in this connection, there is associated with the sleeve 28 a line length calculator and indicator to show the actual condition of the line as it approaches completion. Thus, there is arranged within the sleeve 28 a long rod 40 protruding at its left end beyond the end of the sleeve 28 so as to contact the assembler slide stop 14 in advance of the sleeve 28 itself. At its opposite end, the rod 40 is arranged to engage the lower end of a pivoted pointer 41 arranged to play over two scales 42 and 43, respectively, provided on a plate 44 rising from the bracket 29 before alluded to. The upper scale 42 is calibrated to indicate line shortages in terms of ems, up to 4 ems, and the lower scale 43 is arranged to indicate line shortages of ems in terms of spaceband expansibility, up to 12 spacebands. The two scales 42 and 43 and the movement of the pointer 41 are designed to a ratio of about 2:1 with reference to the actual measure of the em in order to facilitate reading of these scales. Normally, the pointer will occupy its rightmost position, as shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, under the infiuence of an at tached spring 45 anchored to the sleeve 28 and which also holds the indicator rod 40 normally in its leftmost position, protruding beyond the sleeve 28. The arrangement of the parts is such that the pointer does not start its movement to the left until the line is within 4 ems of full measure. As it swings to the left over the upper scale 42, it indicates by the markings on the scale the ems and half ems left in the unfilled line. The scale is marked from left to right so that the pointer will sweep past 4, 3, 2, 1 to 0, indicating a full line. The lower scale 43 is also marked to read from left to right and it is laid off to represent the unused spaces of a spaceband contained in the composed line. As the pointer swings from 4 to 0 on the em scale, it will swing from 12 to 0 on the lower spaceband scale 43. When the pointer is moved opposite the 10 mark, for example, it indicates to the operator that, if there are 10 spacebands in the composed line, the line will justify to full measure and cast. It will be understood that'the operator will have to count the actual number of spacebands in the line. As the pointer moves further and further to the left, with the filling of the line, a less number of spacebands is needed to justify the line to full measure, and such lesser number of spacebands will be indicated on the scale. It will be understood that the two scales shown are merely intended to be illustrative only, as the spacebands vary somewhat in thickness and expansibility, so that the number necessary to justify a line of a given measure may not always be the same.

A modified form of line calculator and indicator is shown in Figs. 5 to 7. In this instance, the rod 40 and pointer 41 are employed as before in connection with the two scales, although in this instance the em scale 42 is the lower scale. But a separate pointer 50 is provided to cooperate with the spaceband scale 51, and an automatic counter mechanism is employed to operate this second pointer 50 which, it may be noted, moves from left to right or contrariwise to the pointer 41. Hence, in this second embodiment, the operator is relieved of the burden of counting the number of spacebands in the line.

As shown in Figs. 8 and 9, the pointer 50 is attached to a rotatable shaft 52 fast to which is a segmental ratchet 53. Loosely mounted on the shaft 52 is an oscillatory arm 54 carrying a pawl 55 to engage the ratchet 53. A spring 56 normally holds the arm 54 in its starting position, as shown in Fig. 9. A solenoid 57, whose armature is connected to the outer extremity of the arm, actuates the pawl to advance the ratchet 53 step by step in moving the pointer 50 from 0 to 10 on the spaceband scale 51. A detent 58 actuated by a spring 59, prevents retrograde movement of the ratchet 53 and holds the pointer 50 in its difiierent indicating positions along the scale 51. After the line has been composed and elevated for transfer, the detent 58 is disengaged from the ratchet 53 to permit the latter and the pointer 50 to be returned to their starting positions by a torsion spring (not shown) attached to the shaft 52. Such disengagement of the detent 58 is accomplished by a bent lever 59:: pivoted at 60, with its upper end in engaging relation to the detent 58 and its lower end equipped with a roller in position to be en gaged by a bevel-ended lug 61 on the upper edge of the assembler slide 4 as the latter is restored to its original or starting position (see Figs. 8 and 9). All of the operating parts for the pointer 50, except the lug 61, are supported upon the plate 44 or the bracket 29 of the supplemental slide 30, most of the parts being concealed by a cover plate 44 at the rear of the plate 44.

The solenoid 57 is included in an electric circuit along with a normally open switch 62, as shown in the diagram of Fig. 5. The current is taken from a 110 volt A. C. supply line, reduced by a transformer T to 24 volts A. C. and then converted by a rectifier R into an 18 volt D. C. current.

The switch 62 is adapted to be closed momentarily each time a spaceband Y is released from the storage magazine Z (Fig. 6) by the operation of the usual escapement lever 70. This escapement lever is actuated from the keyboard in the customary manner through an intermediately pivoted lever 71 and a cam actuated rod 72. 1 It will now be clear that whenever a spaceband is released from the magazine Z, the switch 62 will be temporarily closed and the solenoid 57 energized to impart a feed movement to the ratchet 53 and move the pointer 50 division by division over the scale 51. As escapement actuating parts return to their original positions after each spaceband release, the switch 62 will be caused to return to its normally open position to deenergize the solenoid 57 and allow the feed pawl 55 to be returned to its starting position. Thus the indicator 51 will show at a glance the number of spacebands contained in the composed line. As the composition of line nears completion, the rod 40 will contact the assembler slide stop 14 and start movement of the pointer 41 to the left across the em scale 42. When the two pointers 50 and 41 meet, the operator will know that the composed line can be properly justified without having to count the number of spacebands in the line. In the absence of any spacebands, the operator will have to depend alone upon the pointer 41 which indicates the actual line shortage.

The invention has been shown merely in preferred form and by way of example. Many changes and modifications will readily suggest themselves to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the invention. It should be understood, therefore, that the invention is not limited to any specific form or embodiment except insofar as such limitations are specified in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. In a typographical composing and casting machine equipped with an adjustable vise jaw, an assembler slide, an adjustable assembler slide sto and a stop contact member connected to and movable with the assembler slide, the combination therewith of a rotatable screw rod for effecting the adjustment of the vise jaw, a rotatable screw rod for effecting the adjustment of the assembler slide stop, common operating means for rotating the two screw rods in unison and at different rates of speed to effect corresponding adjustments of the vise jaw and assembler slide stop, the screw rod for the assembler slide stop being rotatable at the lower rate of speed, and means actuated by the assembler slide for moving the stop contact member at a lower rate of speed than that of the slide to correspond with the lower rate of speed of rotation of the screw rod for the assembler slide stop.

2. A combination according to claim 1, wherein the operating means include gears connecting the two screw rods and having a driving ratio of 2 to 1 in favor of the rod for the vise jaw, and wherein the assembler slide actuated means include a rack and gear connection between the slide and the stop contact member and having a driving ratio of 2 to 1 in favor of the slide.

3. A combination according to claim 1, wherein the assembler slide stop is carried by a linearly adjustable block threaded to the corresponding rotatable screw rod.

4. A combination according to claim 3, wherein the said linearly adjustable block forms part of a visual indicator as a guide to the operator in adjusting the parts.

5. A combination according to claim 4, wherein the screw rod for the assembler slide stop has fastened directly thereto a hand turning knob for making finer adjustments of the parts.

6. A combination according to claim 5, wherein the screw rod for the assembler slide stop also has fastened directly thereto a rotary dial as a guide to the operator in making finer adjustments of the parts.

7. A combination according to claim 6, wherein the visual indicator of which the linearly adjustable block forms a part is calibrated in ems while the rotary dial fastened directly to the screw rod for the assembler slide stop is calibrated in points.

8. In a typographical composing machine equipped with an assembler slide and an adjustable assembler slide stop, the combination therewith of means for setting the assembler slide stop in different adjusted positions according to the length of the line to be composed, the range of adjustment of said stop being less than the range of movement of the assembler slide, a stop contact member mounted independently of the assembler slide but movable therewith in the direction of line composition, and means actuated by the assembler slide for moving the stop contact member at a lower rate of speed corresponding with the range of adjustment of the assembler slide stop.

9. A combination according to claim 8, wherein the range of adjustment of the assembler slide stop is onehalf the range of movement of the assembler slide, and wherein the rate of movement of the stop contact member is one-half the rate of movement of the assembler slide.

10. A combination according to claim 9, wherein the stop contact member is carried by a slide on which is mounted a traveling pinion meshing at one side with a 'rack on the movable assembler slide and at the other side with a rack on the stationary framework.

11. A combination according to claim 10, wherein the rack on the stationary framework is movable at will in a direction opposite to that of line composition to permit the release of tight lines.

12. A combination according to claim 11, wherein a hand operated trip latch is employed to hold the rack on the stationary framework in its normalposition.

13. In a typographical composing and casting machine equipped with an adjustable vise jaw, an assembler slide, an adjustable assembler slide stop, and a stop contact member connected to and movable with the assembler slide, the combination of a device for effecting the adjustment of the vise jaw, a device for effecting the adjustment of the assembler slide stop, common means for operating the two said devices in unison but to different extents to effect corresponding adjustments of the vise jaw and assembler slide stop, the stop having the lower range of adjustment, and means actuated by the assembler slide for moving the stop contact member to a lesser extent than that of the slide to correspond with the lower range of adjustment of the assembler slide stop.

14. In a typographical composing machine equipped With an assembler slide and an adjustable assembler slide stop mounted independently of the assembler slide, said stop occupying a fixed position during line composition, the combination therewith of a visual indicator comprising two scales, one calibrated to indicate line shortages in terms of ems and the other in terms of spaceband expansibility, and a pointer cooperating with both scales, and

meansltjor operating said operating th e indicaltor pointer.

15 In' a typographical composing machine equipped with an assembler slide and an adjustable assembler slide stop mounted independently of the assembler slide, said stop occupyinga fixed position during line composition, the combination therewith of a stop contact member connected to and movable with the assembler slide throughout line composition, a visual indicator comprising two scales, one calibrated to indicate line shortages in terms of ems and the other in terms of spaceband expansibllit'y, and a pointer cooperating with both scales, and means for operating said pointer, said means comprising an operating element carried by the stop contact member and movable relatively thereto, and said operating element being arranged to engage the fixed assembler slide stop in advance of the stop contact member, said operating element after its engagement with the assembler slide stop being actuated by the continued movement of the assembler slide stop being actuated by the continued movement of the assembler slide in operating the indicator pointer.

16. A combination according to claim 15, wherein the assembler slide stop is adjustable to accommodate lines of difierent length, and wherein the operating element for the visual indicator pointer cooperates with said stop in all of its different adjusted positions.

17. In a typographical composing machine, the combination of an assembler slide, a visual indicator coml pointer, said means comprisirig an element connected to and movable with the assembler slid e throughout line composition and arranged prising-two scales", one" to indicate line slibftat'gcs in of em, and the oth'efto' indicate the number of; space-- bands in' the composed li'n'e, two separate poihlers coop erati'ng'with the respective scales andtr'alvelingiinoppooile directions, a movable support uponwhich both's'aid scales and both said pointers are mounted, said support being connected to andimovable with the assembler slide during line composition, means actuated by the assembler slijde only as the composition of the line nears completion for operating the em scale pointer, and an automatic spaceband counter for operating the spac cband scale pointer in all positions of the movable support during -li'ne composition.

18. In a typographical composing machine e uippedwith a spaceband escaperne'nt mechanism, the combination according to claim 17, wherein the pointer for the spacebandscale is operatedby connections from' the spaceba'nd escapement mechanism, said connections permittingthe free movement during line composition of the movable support upon which the indicator scales and pointers are mounted.

References Cl t'ed thefile'ot this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 808,931 Knoop Ian. 2', 1906 1,200,861 Marlatt Oct. 10, 1916 1,264,541 Mohr Apr. 30, 191:- 1,311,849 Snapp July 29, 1919 1,419,004 Allen 1 June 6, 1 922 1,648,847 Homans Nov. 8, 1927 2,095,006 Paine -1 Oct. 5,1937 2,461,995 Modes Feb. 15, 1949 2,486,118 Clark Oct; 25,1 

